Michelle Christine Trachtenberg
(born October 11, 1985) is an American television and film actress. She is
perhaps best known for playing Dawn Summers in the television series Buffy
the Vampire Slayer for the show's final three seasons, Penny in the 1999
film adaptation of Inspector Gadget, and Harriet M. Welch in Harriet the
Spy. Trachtenberg also played Georgina Sparks in Gossip Girl, and she has
recently appeared in the movie 17 Again, as Maggie. She is currently one
of the stars in the fall 2009 NBC drama Mercy.

Trachtenberg was born in New York City, the younger of two daughters of
Lana, a bank manager, and Michael Trachtenberg, a fiber-optics engineer.
Her father is from Germany and her mother was born in Russia; Trachtenberg
can speak Russian fluently. Her family is Jewish and Trachtenberg
celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah; her grandparents live in Israel.
Trachtenberg was raised, along with older sister Irene, in Sheepshead Bay
in Brooklyn, where she attended P.S. 99 Elementary School and The Bay
Academy for the Arts And Sciences Junior High School. She later attended
Notre Dame High School with Katharine McPhee, Rachel Bilson, and Kirsten
Dunst.

Trachtenberg made her first television appearance at the age of three, in
a commercial for Wisk Detergent. She went on to feature in over 100 more
commercials. She appeared in her first credited role as Nona F.
Mecklenberg in The Adventures of Pete & Pete from 1994 until 1996. During
the same period she played Lily Montgomery in All My Children, in which
she first worked with future Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Trachtenberg's film career began in 1996 with the lead role in Harriet the
Spy. She then returned to television for Meego, for which she won a Young
Artist Award. She returned to film in 1999 for Inspector Gadget, as the
gadget-master's niece, Penny. She also starred in the film Can't Be
Heaven. In the summer of 2000, Trachtenberg took up the role of Dawn
Summers in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She remained in the role until the
show ended in 2003. She also hosted Truth or Scare from 2001 to 2003.
After Buffy and Truth or Scare, she returned to film in the comedy movie
EuroTrip, co-starring Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts and Travis Wester and
directed by Jeff Schaffer. She also had a recurring role in the HBO series
Six Feet Under as Celeste, a spoiled pop star for whom Keith Charles
served as a bodyguard.
In March 2005, Trachtenberg played the title character in Walt Disney
Pictures' family comedy–drama Ice Princess with Kim Cattrall. In the film,
Trachtenberg played a science whiz named Casey Carlyle who gives up her
future academic life in order to pursue her newfound dream of being a
professional figure skater.
In April 2006 Trachtenberg guest-starred in the episode of House, M.D.,
"Safe". She revealed on the December 22, 2006, episode of Late Night With
Conan O'Brien that House is her favorite show, she is friends with one of
the producers and she asked to be a guest star. Trachtenberg also said she
has a crush on Hugh Laurie, and during the scene in the elevator in which
House searches her genital area for a tick, Trachtenberg said she played a
joke on Laurie by putting a note between her legs that read "I ♥ You".
In November 2006, Trachtenberg guest-starred in the sixth season of the
Emmy-nominated crime drama Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In the episode
"Weeping Willow", she played the role of Willow, a kidnapped video blogger
based on lonelygirl15. Trachtenberg also made a cameo in the Fall Out Boy
music video for "This Ain't a Scene, It's an Arms Race" (with fellow Buffy
the Vampire Slayer cast member Seth Green), Joaquin Phoenix-directed video
"Tired of Being Sorry" for Balthazar Getty's band Ringside, and Trapt's
video "Echo". In 2007, she was cast as the female lead in an ABC comedy
pilot called The Hill, set in Washington, D.C. Trachtenberg provided the
voice of Tika Waylan for Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, a
direct-to-video animated movie based on the novel of the same name.
Trachtenberg appeared on the CW hit show Gossip Girl as Georgina Sparks,
who recently left rehab and brings back the dark past Serena van der
Woodsen desperately wants to leave behind. She returned to the show for a
multi-episode story arc towards the end of the second season. Trachtenberg
will be appearing in at least three episodes of the third season.
Beginning in fall 2009, Trachtenberg is a cast member on the NBC drama
Mercy.
Trachtenberg appeared in the 2009 movie 17 Again alongside Zac Efron,
Sterling Knight and Matthew Perry.
She has a small role in the upcoming comedy film Cop Out.

Michelle Trachtenberg - Personal Quotes

"I love gardening. I think
it's very therapeutic when you're having a bad day."

[On being involved in a Buffy spin-off] "I didn't see myself
continuing as Dawn because I like to have diversity in my roles. A
lot of people are like: "Oh my God! Little Dawn grew up!" And as
much as I love you guys, suck it up."

[On why she chose not to continue her role as Dawn Summers] "I felt
like every year, my character got younger as I got older. The
scripts even had me speaking grammatically incorrectly. So I had to
do something else. Besides, the show is over. If you miss it, get
the DVDs."

[on the future of Buffy] "I'm sure that in some way, shape or form
"Buffy" will be continued or the story, through the fans, because we
do have such devoted fans and that's always been very sweet."

"One day I'd like to win an Oscar. But, I tell my mom if I ever get
to be rude and demanding to let me know and I'll stop it. I don't
want to be an actor like that."

"My confidence comes from me, Michelle, as a person. I don't
necessarily believe that I will act and be a lead forever, but I
want to continue to act for a long time. I love to do what I do."

"A fashion editor at Vogue, that would be awesome." (On her dream
job)

"Anything you throw at me, I'll try to tackle."

"I adore London and Paris, and I hope to live in London for a period
of time when I'm older."

"I love tennis. I tried gymnastics at one point, but my tush got a
whole lot of black and blue so that wasn't fun."

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